What has changed us? Investigating consumers’ behaviors for m-commerce: Comparing the pre- and post-pandemic eras

As the government, companies, and customers try to find a way to adapt to the post-pandemic era, we aim to examine how this new trend influences consumers' intentions and preferred shopping styles. This study empirically examines the associations between different types (in-store vs. online) of customers, perceived security, and behavioral intention toward adopting m-commerce before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Two online studies were conducted for data collection in 2020 and 2023. We found that, first, the concern of perceived security when using m-commerce is insignificant during the pandemic for in-store customers and does not serve as an extra threat for both types of customers after the pandemic. Second, both in-store and online customers showed inconsistencies between their intentions and behaviors toward mobile commerce during the pandemic, and the tendency to adopt such services could be a temporary effect due to the pandemic as customers exhibited coherent behaviors after the pandemic. Furthermore, the combined effect of the pandemic and customer type to m-commerce adoption was strengthened during the post-pandemic era, indicating that despite in-store customers may use m-commerce when needed, they still prefer to shop physically.